1. Field of the Invention
This invention is related to electrical connectors used to connect multiple wires, such as connectors used in an automotive electrical or electronic system in which multiple wires in the same harness are attached to a single electrical connector. This invention is also related to electrical connectors employing primary and secondary locks and to sealed electrical connectors.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Although it is important for electrical connectors in all applications to establish a reliable electrical termination that will not be disengaged under normal operating conditions, automotive applications tend to have more problems with failed terminations than many other applications. The failure of electrical connectors in automotive applications is not only due to the environment in which the connectors are used, but many problems have been traced to errors in assembling the electrical connectors and the harness in which they are employed. With the increased use of electronics in automotive applications these problems can be compounded simply because of the additional circuits and wires that must be joined by the electrical connector.
To overcome these problems, electrical connectors used in automotive applications have used secondary or redundant locking to prevent terminals from being disengaged from the molded housings in which multiple terminals are mounted. Terminal position assurance, which means that the electrical connector assemblies cannot be assembled if terminals are improperly positioned, have been used, and in many prior art connectors, secondary or redundant locks cannot be assembled unless the terminals are properly seated in the housings.
One inherent problem with secondary or redundant locking schemes is that they inevitably take up space. With the increasing number of wires and circuits that must be connected, space often becomes critical. Many electrical connectors have a large number of terminals densely packed in a small space. It is also common to house terminals of different size in the same male or female electrical connector. For example, terminals for supplying electrical power to components in an automobile are commonly housed in the same electrical connector with a large number of terminals connecting signal wires. Each terminal in electrical connectors of this type is typically held in position by a molded resilient primary latch engaging the terminal in its terminal cavity and a secondary or redundant locking member is used either to ensure that the resilient latch does not become disengaged or to independently hold the terminals in the electrical connector. When other common problems, such as the tendency of mating terminals to stub during mating, the tendency of terminals and connector covers to become disengaged when the wires are jerked, and the need to insure that electrical connectors can be assembled and mated in only one orientation must be solved by connector design, it becomes difficult to meet all of these requirements within a given space.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,004,158 discloses an electrical connector assembly that successfully addresses these problems, but the male and female electrical connectors forming that connector assembly are not sealed or waterproof. The use of sliding plate secondary locks with connectors that are sealed at the mating interface and around each wire entering the connector imposes additional problems not addressed by the design of that prior art connector. Furthermore it is important that the molded components of the connector assembly should be molded in relatively simple molds so that the capital cost of the mold tooling does not become prohibitively large. These problems are successfully addressed by the electrical connector assembly comprising the preferred embodiment of this invention.